In the fictional Star Wars universe, the Star Dreadnought Executor was the personal flagship of Darth Vader. It was also the lead ship of its class of Star Dreadnought.

Specifications

The Executor-class Star Dreadnought was 17,600 meters long, about eleven times the size of an Imperator-class Star Destroyer. It carried more than 5,000 weapons, many wings of TIE fighters (likely totaling at least several thousand ships), at least 200 other combat and support ships, several prefabricated garrison bases, and enough stormtroopers and walkers (AT-AT's and AT-ST's) to destroy any conceivable Rebel base.

Many Expanded Universe sources claim that Executor is only 8,000 meters long. Some other sources, most notably starwars.com, have claimed that Executor was 12,800 meters long. Both of these figures are in direct contradiction with the films themselves, which consistently show the Executor to be about eleven times as long as accompanying 1,600m long Star Destroyers, or 17,600m. The 12,800m figure was apparently intended as a "compromise", being halfway between the true length of 17,600m and the West End Games 8,000m version; however, it is still incorrect.

History

HIMS Executor was presented to Lord Vader shortly after the Battle of Yavin, in which the first Death Star was destroyed. It replaced the Devastator as Vader's personal flagship, thus making it the flagship of Death Squadron. The ship was originally commanded by Admiral Ozzel, but after his death at the hands of the unforgiving Vader, Admiral Piett was given command.

Executor was destroyed at the Battle of Endor. After the shields protecting the bridge superstructure were knocked down by a heavy bombardment from the Rebel fleet, a Rebel fighter pilot deliberately steered his hopelessly damaged A-wing into the Executor's unprotected bridge, disabling the massive ship's navigational systems and causing it to accelerate into a collision with the incomplete second Death Star. Soon after that the Death Star itself was destroyed, the explosion vaporizing what was left of the Executor.

Sources

• Heir to the Empire, volume 1 in The Thrawn Trilogy, Timothy Zahn, Bantam Spectra Books, 1991.
• The Empire Strikes Back film, 20th Century Fox, 1980; novelization, Donald F. Glut, Del Rey Books, 1980.
• Return of the Jedi film, 20th Century Fox, 1983; novelization, James Kahn, Del Rey Books, 1983.
• Imperial Sourcebook, Greg Gorden, WEG, 1989.
• Movie Trilogy Sourcebook, Greg Farshtey and Bill Smith, WEG, 1993.
• From Star Wars to Indiana Jones: The Best of the Lucasfilm Archives, Mark Cotta Vaz and Shinji Hata, Chronicle Books, 1995.
• Inside the Worlds of the Star Wars Trilogy, James Luceno, DK Publishing Inc, 2004